Studying these photos has engendered in me a disgust for the white solemn faces. I feel remorse and embarressemnt that the color of my skin matches that of the white men in the photos. The pride the white men exult from their casual expressions is more reason for me to lament my racial history. As I peer through my fingers, I see Laura and her son, and there is no way to describe my regret that not even women or children were free from the tyranny and oppression of my forefathers. And it is this truth that these are our great grandfathers and ascendants that makes my grieving exponentially worse. I loathe those who could treat any human life with such disregard, merely because of a difference in skin color. These pictures show a disgrace that words cannot describe.

I remember reading, for the first time, the poems of Langston Hughes and I do not remember feeling the way I did after watching the slide show presented in Without Sanctuary. I believe it is difficult for even the most sensitive person to fully understand the dreadfulness of a lynching without a visual representation. Looking at the photos you can almost here the cries of the black men and feel the unjustified smugness of the white perpetrators.

There are in some instances where a literary description of violence may connect us with the reality of the situation more than a picture. A novel or work of literature, such as Beloved, lets us see the personalities of the individuals on both sides. When I connect to the characters through dialogue and read of the violent acts that have befallen them it is easier for me to empathies their situation. While a picture can offer a more gruesome, realistic representation of violence, literature helps us connect to the violated individuals and together the offer us a chance to relive the past….. even if we don’t want to.

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